The long-life and appreciable ruggedness of LED light sources has produced a desire to use such light sources in automotive applications. Currently, these applications have been limited to stop lights and taillights and internal illumination. Recently developed LEDs capable of emitting white light have suggested that they might also be used for headlights. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,172 teaches the employment of multiple red, green and blue emitting LEDs arranged in a matrix, whose light is blended to emit a version of white light. The light output can also be varied by computer control and can accommodate directional variation by the vehicle with which they are used.
Newer versions of white light emitting LEDs employ blue and ultra violet-emitting LED sources in combination with a yellow light emitting phosphor, which blends the output into a white light
A lamp has recently been proposed that comprises a housing having a base with a circumferential wall arranged about a longitudinal axis; a hollow body projecting from the base that is symmetrically arrayed about the longitudinal axis; a light guide having a single output end arrayed along the longitudinal axis and having a plurality of radially extending arms, each of the arms having an input end; and a like plurality of light emitting diodes operatively positioned with respect to the radially extending arms. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the light emitting diodes are arrayed about the circumferential wall. This latter approach is described in Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/612,080, filed Sep. 22, 2004. While it provides a workable solution, the arms of the guide generally encompass only a single LED. Accordingly, it would be an improvement to provide a light gathering module, and a lamp employing the light gathering module, wherein each arm of the module encompasses multiple LEDs, thus increasing the light output while reducing the number of optical elements required.